FOUNDATIONAL TRUTHS FOR REVIVAL, TAPE 1

In order to begin properly I think we need to do some defining--what it really means to be a Christian. WHAT IS A CHRISTIAN? Everybody & his brother has an idea about that, & there are all kinds of good truths that are shared about being Christian. One of the unique ways, I believe, to find a definition of being a Christian is to go back to the Bible itself & find the 3 places where the word itself is used in the scriptures. In essence, the word Christian is used only 3 times in the whole Bible. Everybody & his brother calls himself one, & yet its interesting that the word itself is only used 3 times in the whole Bible. You know what that reminds me of? It's a reminder to me & to all of us never to take anyone's Christian life for granite. I can tell you that we have seen pastors' wives' saved in crusades, associate pastors converted, people who led other people to the Lord who were never converted themselves. You say, well is that biblical to be that kind of a pastor? Is Matt. 7 in your Bible? It starts out (in vs. 1), "Judge not, that ye be not judged." But the same chapter goes on, & several verses later in vs. 16 it says, "By their fruits ye shall know them," & goes on & tells us the fact that there will be many who will come to me in that day & say (vs. 22-23), "Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? & in thy name have cast out devils? & in thy name done many wonderful works?" And the Lord will say, "I never knew you: depart from me." And then He uses that right into the illustration of the man who builds his house on the sand in comparison to the man who builds his house on the rock. Now keep in mind that all of that is stated right after Christ describes religious works. There could be nothing more religious than casting out devils & prophesying & doing many wonderful works in the name of the Lord. So you see the Lord is not talking to an outside crowd; He was talking to the insiders (can I say it that way?), & He said of them: "Depart from me, I never knew you!" It's interesting that that same chapter also says to, "Enter in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate & broad is the way, that leads to destruction, & many there be which go in thereat. But strait is the gate, & narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and FEW there be that find it." (vs. 13-14), & how many there will be who will find it? Few. How many letters in the word FEW? F E W. How many times did I say the word Christian was found in the Bible? Three times: F, Christian once; E, Christian twice; W, Christian three times. And though we live in an age that has so popularized the word, it's amazing how rare it is even to find it in the Bible. But I personally believe that to get the truest definition of what it means to be a Christian is to take a look at those 3 places in the scripture & find out how they're used, & in doing so we begin to see God's attitude about what it means to be a Christian. 1. Well, where are they? The FIRST ONE is in Acts 26:22-29, & especially verse 29 where the Apostle Paul is witnessing to King Agrippa & in the midst of his witnessing King Agrippa turns to the Apostle Paul & he says, "Almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian." What is he saying? He's saying that here is a man who's being face to face with the claims of Christ, & he was almost persuaded. What does it mean? a. It means he had to make a willful CHOICE, he had to make a choice as to whether or not he would be a Christian. That's where the Christian experience starts--an act of the will in response to God, to make a choice. What kind of a choice does he make? The choice is: whether or not he will have fellowship with God, or whether he'll live without fellowship with God. b. That's the choice--FELLOWSHIP WITH GOD. Well, what breaks the fellowship between a man & God? c. MY SINS BREAK FELLOWSHIP WITH GOD. Sins hide God's face from us, that He cannot hear. So in order to be a Christian, the first thing a man must do is to be honest about dealing with his sins. And if he's not willing to face that, then he's not in a position to have fellowship with Almighty God. (Foundational Truths for Revival, Tape 1, continued) As I am sharing this tonight I'm not sharing merely a lesson. I am sharing truths that can relate to people in this meeting who have been in church for years & have never genuinely been born again. And there's no sense about talking about a reviving if we've never had life to begin. And God could be saying that to some of us here tonight. There must come a point in my life & in your life where I make a willful choice to turn my back on my sins because I've seen myself in the light of a Holy God, & I recognize that I cannot have fellowship with God & fellowship with Satan at the same time, or fellowship & living for self & for Satan at the same time. That's where it starts. 2. There is a SECOND place the word is found--it's in Acts 11:26, "the disciples were called Christians first in ROME--" Is that what your Bible says? What does it say? First in ANTIOCH. See, I'm an Italian so I thought it was Rome. In fact, I was raised in a religious system that taught me that the first church was in Rome. But the Bible says the disciples were called first in Antioch, & that's in Asia Minor; that's in what we now know as Turkey. Interesting. It doesn't say that they had a group of people & they got together & said, "What are we going to call ourselves? We have a nice nucleus so we're going to start a church, so what shall we call ourselves?" So one said, "I think we ought to call ourselves Baptist." Others said, I think we ought to call ourselves Evangelical Free, Christian Reform, Nazarenes. It doesn't say that. They did not give themselves the name. It says, they "were CALLED Christians first at Antioch." In other words, someone else gave them the name. Who gave them the name? The godless society around them gave them the name. Now the Christian's had lived in the City of Antioch for years. When I say years, I must qualify that--it matters which commentary you read. One commentary will say they lived in the city for one year; another one will say for 12 years; another one will say 14 years--but whatever you want to say they lived in the city for a period of time. And when the godless society around them took a look at these people, they said, "What are we going to call them?" And they said, "There is only one name we can give them--CHRISTIAN." They were CALLED CHRISTIANS FIRST AT ANTIOCH. Now why is that significant? a. Because the godless society saw these people as a people who were CHANGED; they were different, & it was just years before where they had put Christ to death. You remember when Peter & John were on trial in Acts 4, where the jurist took a look at Peter & John standing on trial, & one jurist says to the other, "Hey, there's something familiar about these fellows. What is it?" And the other said, "We know what it is--these fellows remind us of someone we put to death a short time before & now that one we put to death, that we thought we got rid of, is now being reenacted in the lives of these men." It said, "and they took knowledge of them, that they had been with Jesus (4:13)." You see, the life of Christ was now coming out of these disciples as they stood on trial in Acts 4, so they could not mistake it. THEY SAW CHRIST IN THEM! Now here the believers are in Antioch, & those believers were living such Christ-like lives that the ungodly world around them couldn't stand this group. When I said they were called Christians at first in Antioch, I said it politely. Here's the way THEY said it: "There's that narrow minded, bigoted bunch that crosses the current of our culture, that lives totally opposite from the rest of us; there's that bunch that's always a thorn in our side; I wish we could stamp them out, there's that bunch; what can we call them, & somebody said, "There's only one name we can call them--call them CHRIST-I-ANS" in scorn & in contempt, wishing they could wipe them off the face of the earth, because their lifestyle was such a rebuke to the godless society around them. So changed--what kind of a change? b. A life of HOLINESS BEFORE GOD, the Christ-likeness, holiness before God. Now when I say, that's the real essence of being a Christian, holiness before God, what keeps us from living a holy life? (Foundational Truths for Revival, Tape 1, continued) c. SELF IN CONTROL KEEPS & PREVENTS ANY OF US FROM LIVING A HOLY LIFE. Therefore, if a person is truly going to be a Christian & have a lifestyle of holiness before God, he must come to grips with the issue that self can no longer control him. That issue must be settled in his life if he is going to be able to live the kind of life that the world will be able to truly recognize the life of Christ pouring through him. Let me go back to Antioch again. Lou & I have had the opportunity of two and one half months of ministry in the Middle East a number of years ago. Lou ministered primarily in the country of Lebanon where the Armenian people live--Arabs & Armenians. How many of you have any Armenian friends? How many of you have any Armenian friends? Can you give me the names of some them? ...Tycolian...Hasherian, Hohenian, Maserian, Chacarian... What is significant about all these names? I-A-N on the end of them. When we were over in Lebanon they said to us, "Do you notice anything peculiar about our names?" We said, "Yes, they're too long & hard to pronounce." They said, "Well, what do you mean?" "Well, we notice that almost all of your names end in the 3 letters I-A-N. Here are some more names: Chobuckian, Meneukian, Selibian, Halieblian...& on & on we could go--Oh, but I didn't pronounce it right. Over there they say, Meneukeon... (pronounced e-on, rather than ian). They said to us, "Do you realize what that means, the end of our names?" No. "Ian on the end of our names literally means, the son of Menuek...in the same family with, blood relationship with." No question about it--there's no adoption here. The "Real McCoy"--same family. Do you realize that the Armenian people were the first people in church history to embrace the Christian religion as their national religion. And do you notice what it says, Christ-i-an. Oh, the son of Christ, same family with Christ, blood relationship to Christ, Oh! The disciples were called Christ-i-ans first in Antioch--same family as Christ, blood relationship with Christ; you can't mistake them--they're the sons & daughters of Christ. Do you know what that is like to see a father walking down the street & to see his little son come walking behind him? And you're looking on & you say, "Look at that, `he's nothing but a chip off the old block'--look at that, one ear sticks out just like his father, nose crooked just like his father, the way he's walking (his gait) is just like his father." You can tell he has all the earmarks of being in the family, blood relationship in the family. Now take that over to where we are talking about--everybody & his brother calls himself a Christian, Christ-i-an, & just think of the kind of "Christ-i-ans" that we are purporting to our world today, who live like the world, act like the world, talk like the world, dress like the world, attitudes of the world--all involved in the culture of our society, & there's hardly any distinction. Does not your Bible say that "they that live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution"? Maybe that's one of the reasons why many of us don't suffer much persecution. I wonder how real our Christian experience is? And do you know what these days are all about? These days are merely to get us to the place that God will once again find in our congregations a people who can hold their heads up high, if I can say it in the right sense, & are not going to be ashamed to say, "I'm a Christ-i-an--because the blood relationship between me & Christ is real, & I'm being delivered from all the bondages & all the hangovers of a godless society around me that keeps me from walking in holiness before God, so that the world is going to see the distinction between the church & the society outside." It's amazing what a man said: "The longer we go, the more Christian the world is becoming all the time." Another man said, "Brother, you've got the wrong set of eye glasses on." The truth is, the longer we go the more worldly the church is becoming all the time. Would you ever believe that we would be living in a day where in our churches & groups we'd be catering to musicians & music of kind of people who dress like the world with their skin-tight outfits on, & do their religious jive of all their sensual music, with all their sensual movements of the body, & with their shirts wide open to their mid-waist so everyone can see how manly they are? And our people pay money & drive miles to hear people like that to perform under the name of Christ! Maybe it's because my hair is (Foundational Truths for Revival, Tape 1, continued) turning gray--not as fast as my brother's: he's 10 minutes older than I am, he's 10 minutes more to gain gray hair. But you know, when we were raised in church years ago we were told that if we were going to live a Christian life, don't expect to be like the world, look like the world, act like the world, talk like the world, sing like the world, walk like the world--expect to be persecuted. I'll tell you about that in the next point, because that's the rest of the word, Christ-i-an. By the way, do you still love me? Do you? You better if you're going to go to heaven. (Question from the floor): What would you say about people who dress themselves differently from the world as far as certain groups with their black suits & black hats & all the rest of it? My own personal feeling is that I, & I'm not reflecting on them particularly, do not believe that when you are a Christ-i-an you wear a black suit (Oh, I've got to be careful; it's navy blue--I'm all right) a black tie, & a black shirt, & never smile, & be a kind of dehydrated, disintegrated, refrigerated, evaporated Christian singing, "I'm Glad I'm a Christian" to the tune of Old Smokey. I personally don't believe that we ought to be significant in that we want to dress differently from the world & show that we are different (Oh, are there any Salvation Army people here? They dress differently, don't they?) You understand what I mean? I'm merely saying that's not the kind of difference I'm talking about. I'm talking about when we believe that in order to win our world to Christ we have to look & act & dress up just like that world to reach that world, such as musicians. Now I think that every Christian ought to look right & decent & respectable, conservative & nice, clean, so that he's not a reproach to the name of Christ. But when it comes to taking on the flavor of the world & those things that have moral issues at stake to be able to relate to the world, I believe we have done injustice to this whole area. It's a tragedy. Or, would you ever believe that there would be a day when in a meeting like we may be having these days, a man comes forward on a Sunday night in a service in Ohio to give a public testimony in the meeting, & he comes with a Tee-shirt on & his shorts & his tennis shoes & walks from the back up to the front, & stands up & gives a testimony of how he is walking in victory with God? How about a lady who came with not much more than that on to give testimony? You say, "Well, what did you do about it?" Well, I'm sure you understand that before the crusade was over we dealt with the issues. Did you ever believe that we would have so-watered-down this whole area of modesty & spiritual living, & presenting a testimony to the world of things like that to be a part of the life of the church? Did you ever believe there would be a day where people could come & sing gospel solos, duets & trios in mini-skirts, & the church hardly raised a voice against it years ago, but just accept it? I'm merely saying, that when we begin to say that we are Christ-i-ans we are no longer to be victims of a society with its sensuality & its attitudes that are anything but Christlike. Anything that we can enter into that does not have a moral issue involved, fine, but there needs to be a distinction about a change that Christ makes in our lives. There is a THIRD WORD: 1 Peter 4:16, "If any man suffer as a Christian, let him not be ashamed; but let him glorify God on this behalf," that he can suffer as a Christ-i-an. Notice it didn't say, suffer for our own foolishness sake, our own idiosyncracies. It says suffer as a Christ-i-an. Let him not be ashamed. Now I get another picture: the picture of a soldier ready to enlist, ready to suffer for the cause of Christ-- a. Willing to accept the CHALLENGE OF THE CROSS, who is willing to take the abuse, who is willing to be misunderstood, who is willing to be ridiculed, who recognizes that that's a part of the Christian life because Christ was misunderstood & took abuse, & He said, Is the servant any better than the master?...If they did it to me & the prophets, they will do it to you also. The challenge of the cross: b. A CHALLENGE TO BE COMMITTED TO GOD, a commitment to God Almighty. And it's interesting that I should talk like this right now because there are soldiers in the Middle East, & many of them have made a commitment--when they joined they made a commitment. There use to be a day when there was a draft. I remember a story years ago that was told about that, a man who went to the first day of camp, & somebody sitting by him said, "Well, (Foundational Truths for Revival, Tape 1, continued) look what the wind blew in!" He said, "Wind, nothing; it ain't the wind, it was the draft!" Now it's volunteer army, but there is a commitment. I can remember something that some of you cannot remember & that is 2nd World War days--some of you do--but I use to remember what it was like when a young fellow would leave home & go to serve in the army. The week before he would leave, mother & dad would treat him & pamper him, the darling little son, the darling angel is going to be leaving, & it was almost like a funeral that was taking place. They served him breakfast in bed, & stroked his hair, & poor you--you have to go to the army--& they just catered to him. And the night before he was to leave there would be a great big party, the whole city is invited, & all the relatives invited to say goodbye, farewell to this boy, & he is a hero that night. The next morning at the train station everybody sees him off. He's a hero. Once the train pulls out of the station he's on his own, no more hero. He gets to camp & one of the first things they say to him, "We have a barber shop." "What?" "Yes, we'll take care of your hair"--zip, zip, zip, 3 zips & it's all gone. "Oh, wait a minute. I've catered to those waves for years." Some of you here tonight know what that was like, you use to have beautiful waves, now all the waves are gone & you have nothing but the beach. But somebody said, nothing really grows on a busy street. What happens if it's raining? Out in the fields of drills at six o'clock, snow, blizzard, you're in the army--but I'm use to mother pampering me. What did I just talk about? On & on it could go--a life of discipline. He now becomes a part of a regiment, the army, a disciplined life, commitment to take up the challenge to be a soldier. No wonder the Apostle Paul says, no man that warreth, who entangleth himself with the affairs of this life is able to please him that has called him to be a soldier (2 Tim. 2:4); and that's what God is saying in these days to us. Are we ready to really be Christ-i-ans? To be enlisted in God's army, to be willing to take up the challenge of the cross, to be committed to the cause of Christ--no matter which way the world wants to go? If any man SUFFER as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God that he has the privilege to suffer as a Christian. Now, if we are soldiers of the cross, accepting the challenge to be soldiers, committed to God in our personal lives, then no soldier goes into the battle without the equipment. And who is the equipper? c. THE HOLY SPIRIT EQUIPS US FOR THE BATTLE, THE CHALLENGE. Now I know there is all the armor of God that we read about in Ephesians 6, & that's very important, but as we understand the Christian experience, we understand very clearly that none of the armor of God can function in the arm of flesh, that we cannot use the arm of God in the energy of our own flesh. But the Holy Spirit must equip us to be able to use all the armor, to be able to be the kind of soldiers that God Almighty longs for us to be. Having said that, after you have seen that third word, Christian, in the Bible, you cannot find it a fourth time. Isn't that interesting. Don't ever take anybody's experience for granite. What is a Christian? His life is changed, He accepts the challenge, the choice is fellowship with God, leads him into holiness before God, & results in a commitment to God. And in order for that to happen, he must deal with his sins that breaks fellowship with God, he must deal with the self-life that prevents the Spirit of God from flowing through him, & then he must, by faith, enter into the life of walking in the Spirit so that he will be equipped with divine power to be able to bring honor & glory to our blessed Lord--Christ-i-an in the truest sense of the word. (NOTE: The beginning of SIDE 2 of this cassette tape is on page 5, indicated above by the bold words, What happens if it's raining?) (Foundational Truths for Revival, Tape 1, continued) It's interesting that Christ Himself, in His high priestly prayer, prayed for us in 3 areas: that our FELLOWSHIP, HOLINESS & COMMITMENT would be right. a. Take a look at the bottom of your page, notice the high priestly prayer of Christ in Jn. 17:3, He prayed for our FELLOWSHIP--that they might have MY JOY fulfilled in themselves. He is saying that I want my believers to be joyful, & to have my joy fulfilled in themselves. Notice the word, themselves, is plural, & I love to believe that God is saying, I want my believers collectively in themselves, as they join together among each other to have my joy. I want their fellowship to be right--MY JOY! b. And then in verse 15 He prayed for their HOLINESS. He prayed, "I pray not that thou shouldst take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil." He's praying for our holy lifestyle, our blessed Christ praying on our behalf, that we would be kept from evil. c. And then in verse 18 He prays for our COMMITMENT. He prays, "As thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world." He says, Lord, the same way that you sent me & commissioned me, God the Father, You commissioned me to go into the world, not to be ministered unto but to minister & to give my life for a ransom for many. So I pray that those who are in the world will be sent the same way to take up the same challenge, will be committed to me just like I have been committed to thee, O Father--a high priestly prayer of our blessed Lord for us, embodies the true definition of what it means to be a Christian in the truest sense of the word. While we begin to understand this, we begin to see that-- THE APOSTLE PAUL DID NOT FEED HIS CONGREGATION CRUMBS, BUT HE SAID HE DELIVERED UNTO THEM THE GOSPEL OF THE GRACE OF GOD. And when you read in Acts 20:21,24b, when the Apostle Paul tells the elders at Ephesus, giving his testimony before he parts from them, he said, I want you just to be reminded that my MESSAGE TO YOU WAS THREE-FOLD: a. REPENTANCE TOWARD GOD, b. FAITH TOWARD THE LORD JESUS CHRIST, & then he turns to them & says, I failed not, I shunned not to preach unto you the c. GOSPEL OF THE GRACE OF GOD. And there is not time to elaborate on this to show how repentance & faith & the gospel of grace all tie together, but there was his message: repentance, faith, & the gospel of the grace of God. I did not fail to declare unto you that message. There are some cross references: -1 Tim. 1:5,19, Faith is an essential ingredient, faith & a clear conscience; -Acts 17:30, The reference on repentance on Mars hill where he preached the message of repentance, for in the times of their ignorance God winked at, but now God commands all men everywhere to repent; -Titus 2:11-15, Now I want to elaborate unto you the gospel of grace of God, & he shows us that the gospel is three-pronged, a three-fold message. Verse 12, For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men. What kind of grace are we talking about? Saving grace--salvation. The saving grace of God is available to all men. As soon as we read those words, what comes into your mind when you read the grace of God that brings salvation, has appeared to all men? Christ is on the earth, appeared on the earth, forgiveness of sin, Holy Spirit's working, need to be saved--&, I am on my way to heaven. But the other part of the truth is that most of us & our people in our churches when they read that verse, (Foundational Truths for Revival, Tape 1, continued) primarily that's what crosses our mind--I'm saved, on my way to heaven; but in the truest sense of the word this portion of scripture does not only relate to heaven, but to my lifestyle right now. Somebody said, I love to sing In the sweet bye & bye; that's better than talking about the nasty-now-&-now. However, the truth is that the grace of God can function in the nasty-now-&-now. Now look at these words: the grace of God that bringeth salvation has appeared to all men. I'd like to elaborate on two words: BRINGETH SALVATION. Not only salvation from hell to heaven, but the grace of God also functions in our lives to save us from the bondage & the bondages of ourselves. And that's the kind of salvation that many of us need to be delivered from or have--delivered from the bondage of ourselves, of living for self, bound by self-centeredness. You say, is that what the text is saying? Of course it is. Look at the next verse (12): "Teaching us that, denying ungodliness & worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously & godly, in this present world." And that's the truth that God is saying to us in these days that will come into focus, that God wants us to enter in to the reality of the grace of God, to be saved from the bondage of our own self-centeredness, to be able to be taught to live that godly lifestyle, to be able to be sober & righteous & godly in this present world, no longer as victims of a culture that demands its rights over our lives. The grace of God can function to make this a reality in our Christian experience. And then in verse 13. You have a chart--we have talked about three truths-- A TRILOGY OF TRUTH: OF DEALING WITH SINS, SELF, & HOLY SPIRIT--Christian once, Christian twice, Christian three times. And here is the biblical example of it in Titus 2:11-14. Vs. 12, the truth is merely INFERRED, not clearly taught--living SOBERLY (relating that we are to be sober because the enemy, our adversary the devil goes about as a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour. How does he devour? By tempting us to sin. So we are to live soberly, sensitive, careful about the enemy's attacks in tempting us to sin.) And then we are to live RIGHTEOUSLY. When I think of Christ, our blessed example, what do I see as the most righteous act in His life? What do you consider the most righteous act in the life of Christ when He lived on the earth? What would you say?--His death, His sacrifice on the cross, obedience, forgiving? All of that is true; there are no wrong answers to that when you start talking about all what Christ has done. But if I can put it in a nutshell, I believe the most righteous act of Christ, in the light of this truth, was in the Garden of Gethsemane when in His humanness He turned to His Father & He said, Father, would You please let this cup pass from me--Christ in His humanness, under the weight of the cup, of the sin of the whole human race being put on Him--let this cup pass from Me. But then, Christ, the divine Son of God, if I can say it this way in quotes, "catches Himself" & He says, nevertheless, not MY WILL BUT THINE BE DONE. The most righteous act in the life of Christ was when He was willing to surrender His will to the will of His Father; and it was that act that allowed Him to go all the way to the cross. That's the righteousness of Christ. So righteously, God teach me how to live righteously, surrendering the rights of my life at the cross, & then to live GODLY, & no one can live godly apart from the ministry of the Holy Spirit who leads us & guides us into all truth. So the truth of dealing with sins, self & the Spirit is inferred, not pointedly taught, in verse 12, but it is CLEARLY TAUGHT in vs. 14. (Verse 13 says, Looking unto Jesus, looking for that blessed hope, & the glorious appearing of the great God & our Savior Jesus Christ;) "Who gave Himself for us"--for what reason? That He might do 3 things: a. To REDEEM US FROM ALL INIQUITY (Iniquity is sin); (Foundational Truths for Revival, Tape 1, continued) b. To PURIFY US UNTO HIMSELF a peculiar people--that's why He died. And what does that mean? The word, purify, is the word cleanse; it has many meanings: separates me from the bondage of living for self so that I can be separated unto Himself. And the simple truth is that you can't be all wrapped up in YOURSELF & live for HIMSELF & be separated unto HIMSELF at the same time. But when I surrender the rights of my life & my self at the cross, & recognize that Christ died for that, & it's a part of the gospel of the grace of God, it's then I can be a candidate; he died that I might be-- c. ZEALOUS OF GOOD WORKS. The word zealous is the word zeal--it means motivation. "But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you:" (Acts 1:8), then ye shall be witnesses, & it's a reminder to all of us that if we expect to live the Christian life & be the witnesses that we ought to be, it cannot be in the energy of the flesh, but it can only be as we begin to walk in the Spirit & no more fulfill the lusts of the flesh.